


Thunder and Lightening

by nightfalltwen



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-10
Updated: 2012-02-10
Packaged: 2017-10-30 21:21:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/336296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightfalltwen/pseuds/nightfalltwen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zacharias is sent to a wildlife preserve as a community service assignment after fighting too much during a quiddich game.  Turns out it was just what he needed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thunder and Lightening

**Author's Note:**

> Written in 2009/10. Characters originally plundered from the RPG **waking_pandora** but this is AU to their AU. If that makes sense. Special loves to **cryptaknight** because I plundered Zacharias but good... somehow I like writing his POV bestest. This was a Christmas present for her that turned into a New Years gift.

Lightening forked across the dark, tumbling clouds. The summer storm had broken upon the camp surprising everyone. They'd all dismissed Luna's warnings that the weather was starting to sound damp and smell like thunder. Which had been a mistake as she was rarely wrong about this sort of thing. Supplies and equipment and chaotically pulled into the shelter once the rain started and everyone huddled beneath the canvas, waiting for the storm to break.

Except her.

She was crazy. Clearly mad as a march hare. Zach stalked through the downpour looking for her. _Again_ He cursed loudly to himself, swearing he was going to shake some bloody sense into the girl before the day was out. Alright, so she did tell someone -- Harper -- that she was going out in the rain. Alright, Harper didn't seem terribly concerned about her tent mate and said something about this being very normal, but Zach had played Quidditch in lightening before and this kind of storm wasn't safe!

He came across her in a small clearing, the one that was bisected by a babbling brook. A brook that happened to be more tumbling and angry right now. Fitting, because that's how he felt about all of this. And then he saw her. His heart literally stopped in his chest because she was lying on the ground, eyes closed and barely moving. Shit. Shit. Shit. _Shit_.

"Luna!" Zach dropped to his knees beside her.

Slowly she opened her eyes. First one, then the other and looked at him curiously. Raindrops hit her face, causing her eyelashes to flutter. She didn't look terribly injured, but he could only see her face and her front and that her clothes were soaked through and that her lips were tinged with a purple hue; she was cold, that much was obvious She smiled at him. He scowled.

"What the hell are you doing, Lovegood?"

"I'm enjoying the weather, Zacharias," was her simple reply. "I love the rainy nights."

"You were... Lovegood, I could just... Luna why..." Zach didn't like being worried. It made him furious. He wanted to shout at her, shake her, lecture her. If he thought any of those would do any good, he would have done them.

"I told someone where I was going," she said, a look of confusion crossing her face.

"That's not the point!" He ran his hands through his hair, frustrated because he couldn't coherently express just why he was so furious and worried.

She sat up, which made things absolutely worse because then he _noticed_ how wet her clothing was, that it was clinging to her in ways he didn't think he had the right to see. Oh lord, he could see right through her blouse and bra. She reached out and touched his cheek with the back of her hand, her knuckles brushing across his jaw. She had such a soft look about her that contrasted deeply with how hard and angular he really was. He tried pulling back from her touch but her hand followed where he moved.

"You worry about me much more than anyone else here," she stated.

"I have to," he grumbled, finally giving up and letting her stroke his cheek and wishing he felt like he actually deserved such a soft touch.

"No you don't."

"Yes." He caught her wrist. "I do."

It was a stupid thought. A stupid and completely idiotic idea. But she was sitting there, breathing and wet, hair clinging to her neck and blouse clinging to _everywhere_ and there was rumbles of thunder and flashes of light and it was a very stupid idea. But he kissed her. He kissed her because he was worried, because he was angry, because she was there, because she didn't see him for anything else but who he was, because he'd stopped wearing that mask with her. Because he cared. And he was getting lost in her.

God Damn It All To Hell.

***

_Sicilian Magical Creature Preserve  
Three Weeks Earlier_

"Welcome volunteers!" An airy voice came from the front of the group. "Oh, we are so happy to have you here."

Zach kicked at his duffle and rubbed his shoulder. He'd landed funny after the portkey and was itching to see the preserve healer to make sure there wasn't any lasting damage. One bad injury healed incorrectly and he'd be off the team longer than this stupid suspension. So engrossed in his own irritation that he'd not even heard most of what whoever was at the front of the group had said. It wasn't until a clipboard was placed in front of him that he raised his head.

And looked right into a pair of pale, dreamy eyes.

"Whoa." He stepped back; she was almost toe to toe with him. "Personal space much?" he snapped.

"You looked like you were thinking many thoughts. I do have some important information, Zacharias Smith. But if you're distracted by nargles, or if the wrackspurts have infested already, I can wait until later."

Zach frowned. He'd been given a choice. Healer's aid at St Mungo's or animal care in Sicily. The latter had sounded more appealing. Less likely to have the chance of coming across someone that he knew. Someone who wanted to pepper him with questions about his suspension from the Falcons. A suspension, he felt, was completely unjustified. It wasn't _his_ fault that the Tornado's seeker's face got in the way of his fist. The little pillock shouldn't have said what he said about Cedric. It wasn't Zach's fault that Tornado players had such breakable noses.

One month off the team. One month of volunteer work or he was going to have to pay a hefty fine out of pocket, money that he didn't exactly have at the moment. One month because he'd already had three warnings about fighting. One month doing something for the "betterment of wizard-kind." St. Mungo's or Sicily. Make a choice.

And once that choice had been made, he was sent out of the country. Only to cross paths with an airy Ravenclaw that often spoke to everyone as though they ought to believe every sort of nonsense word that came out of her mouth.

"Finish up, Lovegood," he said gruffly and folded his arms over his chest. "I'm listening."

**

It was supposed to be easy. All he had to do was keep his head down and do whatever task they set him upon. Fix a couple of fences, feed a couple of animals, shovel out a few pens. He tried to keep to himself and brushed off a lot of the attempts at conversation with the other volunteers and general staff of the compound. Except her. She always managed to appear and start talking to him as though they were long time friends.

Sometimes he gave an answer. Sometimes he just listened.

It helped pass the time, he figured. And despite the fact that her stories about Sweden and creatures he hadn't seen before were a little (okay, maybe a lot) outlandish, they always served to pass the time and before he knew it, it was time for supper again and all the paddocks were mucked out.

Shortly after his arrival, Zach learnt that Luna wasn't any sort of authority over the group. She'd just been asked to greet the new arrivals because she'd been available. It made him a bit irritated because he'd thought she was in charge. And yet a bit relieved because she'd not reported him for difficult behaviour or not listening or whatever it was that he'd thought he'd been in trouble for that first day. 

Watching some of the established workers, especially the girls, he'd noticed that they weren't really all that friendly with Luna. Polite enough, but he didn't see Luna being included in the occasional 'girls night' or anything like that.

Seeing her passed over in the mess tent for the third time somehow bothered him. He wasn't sure why.

"Why don't you ask if you could tag along with them?" he asked, shovelling a spoonful of some sort of hearty stew into his mouth as he watched Harper, Luna's tent mate, and a number of other twittering girls walk past their table chattering on about going into town to the pub. None of them even looked in Luna's direction.

"Well someone should stay behind and make sure the animals are alright. There's a mooncalf in paddock number seven that is going to give birth tonight. I have to make sure she doesn't leap out to go dancing in the neighbouring field after it's over." Luna finished arranging the carrots on her plates in a sunburst pattern before she started to poke at them with her fork. He'd not asked why she didn't have any of the stew, which was quite good. Didn't figure it was any of his business.

"There's plenty of us here, Lovegood. Hell... I could go watch the beast if you wanted to take off. I'm sure the uppity ups wouldn't mind."

Luna lifted her gaze to him, wide luminous eyes meeting his. The intensity of it made Zach a little squirmy and he stirred his spoon around in the stew, worried why he was unable to break the connection. After what felt like forever, she finally smiled and looked down at her plate, popping a carrot into her mouth. At first he thought she wasn't going to answer his question and it actually made him frown slightly until he realised that she was merely not speaking while she ate.

Swallowing what was in her mouth, Luna dabbed her lips with a napkin. "I don't mind staying behind. And I couldn't just impose myself on the group without an invitation. It would be rude. But I do appreciate the offer and if you'd like to join me, it will be all night, you're certainly welcome to do so."

Zach reached for a fluffy roll and broke off a hunk to soak in the stew gravy. "Okay," he said and popped the soggy piece of bread into his mouth. It didn't look like the blokes at the camp were all that interested in inviting him to play cards or go out drinking either. Might as well pass the time waiting for a creature to pop out its baby. "Never seen a mooncalf birth before."

"Excellent." Luna speared another piece of carrot. "I shall have Cook make us some hot chocolate for us to take with us. You do like hot chocolate, don't you? Mulled cider frightens the mooncalves so we can't have anything else. I hope that's alright."

Zach had to smile and chuckle at not what she said but how she said it. Wow, that was fairly easy. "Yeah, Lovegood. Hot chocolate is fine. But only with marshmallows."

Her bright smile put him more at ease. "Oh it wouldn't be hot chocolate without them."

**

He only had one week left, which was just fine by him. Not that he didn't enjoy actually looking after the creatures, but he was looking forward to getting back on his broom. His whole body itched to play again. He kept his thoughts hopeful that they wouldn't bump him back down to reserve after this. He'd done his time on the reserve string and hoped they wouldn't put him back there when he could do so much more for the team.

Strolling through the compound, Zach balanced two cheese and tomato sandwiches in one hand and mugs of steaming cider in the other, both cut in triangles with their crusts removed. He'd been looking all over the camp for Luna, a little put out that she'd not joined him for lunch like she always did and entirely confused that he was feeling put out by it. But since he'd not seen her at breakfast either, he decided that he'd bring her something instead. Out of all the English-speaking people at the camp, he was most at ease with her. There was just something about the way she talked to him. Like he wasn't stupid or a big, dumb, Hufflepuff coward. There weren't any accusations or even any questions.

Forgiven for offences without having to even defend himself.

Worry started to creep up on Zach the further away from the main part of the camp he got. The way the compound was designed, the further away from the tents, the more dangerous the creatures were. When he spotted her sitting by herself in the middle of a fenced area, the worry briefly disappeared. However the relief was short-lived when he saw the placard nailed to the top rung of the gate. Never before had he considered that Luna Lovegood was stupid or reckless. She seemed, or at least had seemed, to have a good head on her shoulders in the few short weeks that he'd really gotten to know her. All of that seemed to negate the fact that she was right in the middle of a Manticore paddock.

"Lovegood," he hissed, setting the mugs and plates on the ground.

Luna turned and waved her arm, calling out. "Hello Zacharias!"

Zach might have not paid much attention in school. He wasn't a fan of reading things outside of Quidditch scores and he didn't _like_ to study. But he did know about creatures. He knew that Manticores were listed with a very dangerous rating at the Ministry. He knew that the venom in their tails was highly poisonous and that one sting, just _one_ sting, was almost a guaranteed death. He knew that their skin repelled almost all known charms.

And Luna Lovegood was sitting in the middle of its God-damned bloody territory.

"Lovegood, get out of there," he gestured for her to head for the gate, his wand drawn. "What the hell are you doing? Do you know where you are?"

"Oh yes," Luna stretched out her legs and wiggled her toes. Barefoot! She was barefoot! "I'm visiting with Martin."

Martin. Martin the Manticore. He swore that years were coming off the end of his life left, right and centre. It got worse when, out of the shadows, the large creature made its presence known. He'd never seen a Manticore up close. Its human-like face and lion's body, the giant curling scorpion tail. And she was just sitting there. Just sitting there!

"Zacharias, don't look so frightened. Martin is one of the oldest Manticores in the world. He doesn't have any teeth anymore and if you look closely, the stinger on his tail is gone." A sad sort of look appeared. "We rescued him from a dark wizard in Greece. They'd had him in their family for generations and were terribly abusive to him." 

She got to her feet and carried a large bowl he hadn't noticed over to the creature, setting it down in front of the beast and patting its head. Martin, Zach couldn't believe he was thinking of the thing by its name already, leaned down and started to lap at the bowl. It seemed that Luna had just brought him some mashed food. Pureed for easy meals, of course. He felt foolish. Yet not so much because the thing was still enormous and could crush her with a swipe of its lion paw if it got angry enough. And next to it, she looked so fragile.

"I don't care if its turned into a fluffy bunny or a bloody cross-eyed, snarfblaff, Lovegood. Just for... my own sanity could you come stand on this side of the fence?"

"Yes, of course." She gave the creature a hug around its furry neck before skipping back to the fence and climbing up and over. "Oh and just so you know, they're called Crumple-Horned Snorkacks."

Without even thinking about it, Zach reached up and clasped his hands at her waist to help her down to the ground. Somewhere in the back of his head there was a brief acknowledgement that he could almost span it with his fingers. Once she was on the proper side of the fence and he wasn't having a myocardial infarction, he snatched his hands away from her, storming over to where the food had been put on the ground. He didn't like being frightened for another person. It made him angry and irritable. The possibility that she could have been hurt or worse and him without any control over it dredged all sorts of long-buried memories about Cedric up to the surface.

"That was stupid, Luna," he snapped. "You could have been hurt!"

Luna gave him a soft look and was suddenly standing beside him. She reached a hand out and patted it gently against his cheek. "There's really no reason for you to always be so worried about me. I'm generally fine."

Zach grumbled and turned his head sharply from her touch feeling like she was patronising him. He didn't know why he was so concerned for her welfare, but he was. He reasoned that he'd have been just as concerned had it been any other person at the preserve and she was no exception. Except she was some sort of exception because he'd never snapped at any of the blokes for climbing around in the creature pens and he'd never felt his stomach fall down to his shoes when one of the other girls fed the animals.

And just the way she was sitting there looking unconcerned made him suddenly very cross. He stomped off, leaving her and the sandwiches and marched back to camp.

**

She tasted like rainwater. Rather, the rainwater tasted like rainwater and Luna Lovegood tasted uniquely like herself. A cross somewhere between citrus and honey possibly? He couldn't quite determine and all he knew was that deep down he wanted to kiss her until he'd figured it out. It was only on the second bump of her nose against when his teeth scraped lightly across her lip did he actually realise what he was doing. To her. In the rain. With a startled curse, Zach dropped his hands and fell backwards onto his arse, his ears about to catch on fire.

"I'm sorry, Luna," he said, scuttling backwards on his hands and feet like a fleeing crab. "I really shouldn't have done that."

She watched him with those truth-seeking eyes of hers. The gaze was uncomfortable and captivating all at once and he found that he couldn't look away. And because he was so caught up in it, he didn't realise that she was crawling forward until she was right there. Zach gulped a breath and swiped at a drop of rain that was stubbornly refusing to fall from the tip of his nose. He looked around for a means of escape. He tried to think of a really smart excuse. He tried to do something, will the earth to open up and swallow him whole, anything.

Then her long arms flung themselves around his shoulders and she pressed her mouth against his. Well. Well if she was _starting_ it this time.

His arms came about her, hands splaying along the curve of her back as he dragged her closer. It didn't leave her any choice but to straddle his lap and that lead to warm parts of her pressing against impatient parts of him and the whole idea that the only thing between them was a bit of rain soaked clothing made Zach's head spin. But then her mouth opened to his probing tongue and his head didn't just spin. It nearly popped right off his neck and floated off into the stormy sky above.

When she finally pulled back, Zach made a rather loud and embarrassing grunt in protest. He opened his eyes and looked at her. She was smiling.

"Harper is still sharing my tent. But I dare say _your_ tent mate went home for a family gathering, did he not?"

Zach blinked. "That's forward."

"Oh is it too much?" Luna looked a bit concerned. "Do you prefer courting first? I could certainly bring you home to meet Daddy. He's not very good at being the stern father who makes the young men afraid, but if you'd rather meet him first." She tapped her chin with her finger. "I've never quite understood how meeting the family makes sexual encounters more enjoyable, but if it's something you'd prefer to do--"

"Luna."

"I suppose I could organise a portkey."

"Lovegood," Zach said, exasperated. " _Luna_." He pressed his fingers against her lips. Her rather brilliant and delicious lips and held them closed. She blinked at him. "I don't need to meet your father first. And I'm very close to not wanting to go to a tent of any sort." He rocked his hips up against her to emphasise that point. The absolutely amazing thing about that movement was that he actually saw her eyes darken without her expression changing in the slightest. Zach wasn't sure if he'd ever seen that happen in a girl's eyes before. He touched her cheek gently and tried to look away from that searching gaze of hers, feeling like she was finding out all his secrets with just one look. What worried him the most is that he didn't actually mind at all.

It was suddenly all too much. He wanted her in every way imaginable.

In one fluid motion, Zach had her off his lap and they were both standing and somehow, amid the frantic kisses and caresses and his hand fitting almost perfectly over the curve of her bum, he managed to apparate the pair of them back to his tent. He kissed his way down her neck, peeling her blouse as he went. Buttons were easy and before long he had it off and was dragging his lips along the edge of the lace enclosing her breasts. The gasping squeak she let out when his teeth grazed her nipple, nipping it through the fabric, was something he would not soon forget.

Soon he had all of her clothing off and took a moment to actually look at Luna. From the tip of her nose, to the way a wet strand of hair cascaded over her shoulder only to curl around her breast, to the gentle flare of her hips and the bumps of her hipbones.

He let out a shaking breath.

It had been a while since Zach had really taken the time to think about what he needed versus what he wanted.

By God, he didn't just want Luna Lovegood. He realised now that he _needed_ her. Like she was that missing piece of himself that he hadn't known was missing until he'd found it and put it in place.

A smile appeared on her face and she backed away from him until she was sitting on his bed and scooted back. The cot was really only meant for one person and Zach barely fit himself because he was so tall. If she fell asleep tonight, she was going to have to sleep on top of him. Zach swallowed thickly because he actually _really_ liked the idea of that.

His own clothing joined the tangled pile on the floor and Zach joined Luna on the bed, kissing her hungrily. Wanting to memorise just how delicious her kisses were. She made his heart beat faster, she made him think about things, she made him groan and ache. She did so many things. It had only been a month and she'd gotten so far under his skin that he didn't know if he ever could, or ever wanted to, get her out again.

In the past it had only ever been about shagging. One-offs that amounted to nothing. No attachments because they were too complicated. They were girls who liked Quidditch players, girls that Zach really couldn't remember the names of in the morning. Girls he maybe saw once or twice. And the 'twice' only happened a few times. When he didn't recognise the girl until the next day. 

This was different. This wasn't about him. He wanted Luna to think it was special. He wanted to make her weep with pleasure and he wanted to do it over and over and over again.

 _Mine,_ he thought possessively.

He touched her everywhere, making her gasp and arch and clutch at him. Zach couldn't help but smile against her neck, his fingers dipping low and between her legs to discover just how _eager_ she was. He wanted to ask her if she felt the thrum in her body like he did, if she was happy, if she felt something stronger than just attraction. Some part of him wanted reassurance. Verbally. But he kept his questions to himself and just listened to her whimpers.

Slowly, because sometimes he liked just going slow and drawing it out for a woman, he pressed his middle finger into her, marvelling at how tight and wet she was around him. There was this look of surprise on her face that he'd never forget and the index finger of his other hand slipped back and forth across that little bundle of nerves, pulling quiet sounds from her throat with every movement. Luna gasped and squirmed, her thighs falling open and then attempting to close around him.

Then suddenly he stopped.

The moan of protest was absolutely exquisite coming from her, but he wanted to feel her clench around something other than his finger. A very insistent something. He wanted the sounds to be different. He wanted her to gasp, to cry, to scream, to moan. He wanted to hear what she was like in the very throws of ecstasy. He wanted to see Luna Lovegood flustered beyond belief.

But it was the sound she made when he finally slid into her that made him freeze.

"Ow."

Her eyes were pinched shut and Zach hovered there, utterly terrified by what he'd just done. He'd not even asked. He'd not even _wondered_. Shit. Shit. Shit. _Shit._ Zach swept his hand over her hair and she finally opened her eyes to look up at him. He couldn't breathe or move. He was horrified at himself.

"Luna," he asked finally, trying to focus on her and not the way her body was clinging to him and around him in all manner of distracting ways and berating himself for not realising why she was so exquisitely tight. "Why didn't you _tell_ me?"

A slightly strained sort of smile appeared on her face and she reached up to run her thumb along the bridge of his nose. "Because you would have stopped. You worry so," she said. "It was merely a technicality."

He groaned softly because she moved a bit and everything squeezed just a little more. "But your first," he rasped. "It should have been with someone more... more gentle."

"I couldn't imagine anyone else I would want besides you. Now. I think there should be less talking, wouldn't you say?" she said, leaning up to kiss him and splay her hands against his back as one leg came up against his hip.

Although Zach's mind was reeling from the fact that he'd just, for lack of a better term, _deflowered_ Luna Lovegood, a baser sort of instinct took over the moment her leg moved. He started slow, gradually increasing speed and angle and soon she was making the same sounds she'd been making to the movement of his fingers. She was new to this, her movements a bit awkward, but soon she found her own pace, her own style. Her own way of flexing around him that brought them both to fevered heights. Somehow everything about this encounter was uniquely Luna and he couldn't get enough.

She came first with a very un-Luna-like moan and a shudder, clutching at his shoulders. Zach sent off a silent prayer of thanks to whomever because he couldn't stand the idea of him being her first time and not having her enjoy it to the fullest extent.

He thrust into her a few more times, her maddening flutters driving him to distraction and when his release hit it was like a dozen Bludgers slamming into him from every angle. He thrust deep and her name burst from his lips. It was all he could do to hold her and kiss her and keep her legs wrapped around him as he pulsed within her.

Probably in the back of his mind he should have been worried about all of this, but he wasn't. He hardly cared in the slightest. This was different. It was always going to be different. She was different.

This was much more than a one off. 

Looking down at her, Zach traced her almost perfect lips and smiled when she nipped softly at them with a cheeky look.

"You never fail to surprise me, Lovegood," he said.

"I should think I'd be quite boring if I didn't surprise people every day."

"I'm leaving tomorrow." He frowned. Suddenly that seemed like a terrible idea. "I'm expected back on the team."

"Oh yes," she said thoughtfully. "I really should pack."

Zach looked surprised. "Pack?" he asked dumbly.

"I think it would be a lot easier to continue doing this if I were a lot closer, would it not?" She ran her fingertips down his spine and Zach could feel himself harden and twitch. There were a great many benefits to being in his twenties.

He kissed her. "Much easier."

"We won't need a tent every time, will we?" she asked.

Zach laughed and kissed her neck. "Not unless you really want one, Luna."

Soon Zacharias Smith would realise that if she asked it of him, he would give her anything she asked for. His heart would be first.


End file.
